Steven Whiley

In my humble opinion, a good musician not only knows how to effectively arouse the audience’s feelings by excellent pieces of music, but recognises the art of performing and the use of diverse instruments. This was done very well tonight by Steven Whiley of the Preston band Jackdawswith his guitar and definitely, his “Thee”- a little music box.

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division Cover) on music box was the first one to shine on the stage. If you’ve ever heard an antique music box play, you will imagine how delightful the clear, delicate tinkling sounds can be from Steven’s Thee. Love Will Tear Us Apart has been covered by many artists, but this one done by Steven is indeed fresh and inspiring which finally led a creative combination of classic and novelty. Obviously, the strong reactions from the crowds show they want more music box. Not upstaged by Thee, Steven’s continued to give a performance to try and get the acknowledgement and recognition he deserves.

Love Will Tear Us Apart + Sea Enemies

Following up were emotional Sea Enemies and Dearly Departed, thanks to meaningful lyrics and attractive melodies, these two songs all together sound like telling the crowds two thought-provoking stories. Steven has always been trying to take new elements into his music for the audiences, and he had never played Sea Enemies and Dearly Departed to anyone before, but Steven simply let the singing do the talking. So, shouts of “one more” from the crowds made Steven played the crowds’ favorite – Undertakers Daughter to finish his performance today.

Dearly Departed + Undertaker’s Daughter

For an open mic, Steven definitely played and sang to his best. Full music box version of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Steven is available here. Nevertheless, Unsigned Acts / Preston strongly recommend to go and watch Steven and his band Jackdaws live, which should be pleasure to do so, they are actively looking for full gigs at the moment, anyone feel interested, please feel free to contact us.

Jamie Brewer

Probably, some of you are enough with the roar of the daytime and want some music, well, in such an industry occupied with mainstream generic music with lyrics that couldn’t represent any implication or emotion, perhaps now you hope to go back to the basic and have a break, with a peace mind, and listen to some simple but really original, organic and refreshing things tonight, nevertheless, that is exactly what we got with Jamie Brewer at the Ferret.

First on was Songbird, a song written for Jamie’s friend – Our fascinating singer songwriter Katie Ryan. From the moment Jamie started to play, you cannot resist indulging yourself in the totally quiet and intimate atmosphere set out there. It’s a pure aspiration to play and enjoy this pleasant song, I would imagine myself sitting in my backyard on a relaxed and peaceful afternoon accompany with this Songbird. Next was also an interesting and engaging acoustic one called The First of Many, with fast rhythm and upbeat feeling, made it a perfect song to chill out the flippancy, and instead was all love and peace.

Songbird

It’s the first time for Unsigned Acts / Preston to watch Jamie played solo without his band Defy The Sky. Well, we had seen quite a few amazing musicians played with a guitar that night, but no one played in the same way as Jamie, reminded me of the scenes when the musical prodigy played guitar in my favorite movie named August Rush.

Laura Bailey

Advent of Miss Laura Bailey with On your side and Zip it Up brought us some nice inoffensive music to listen to, that absolutely added luster to the show tonight and made the excited crowds even more enjoyed themselves.

Zip It Up

Three Unsigned Acts / Preston musicians played at the same night, same venue, well, hope could have more shows like this. For tonight, overall I would rate it 9/10.